Man, Japanese police don't mess around lol

Is there a specific reason as to why there's been a surge of arrests for illegal uploads (in Japan)?

Wow, I'm actually around at at a time where my comment on one of these stories would actually be seen by some people looking at the comments.

Everytime I see one of these stories in the news section here I just have to wonder why these keep getting posted on CR. Is there some sort of contractural requirement for CR to do it now that the site is legit?

Otherwise, I can't really see a reason to keep putting these up. They don't give us any information that anybody would consider to be interesting news or transmitting otherwise interesting information.

Yes, the stories inevitably garner a large number of comments, but that's from people rehashing the same legal/illegal arguments or commentaries. Nothing genuinely new ever comes out of these comments or discussions, it's all just a rerun of previous comments from the last story on Japanese illegal uploaders being arrested.

Is it possible to revise the contracts or whatever else is responsible for these useless article being posted so that we can be rid of them?

i know this is off topic but where did the pulse section go? wtf man?

@AnoCRMem; you might not find this interesting, but some of us do. Some of us are actually interested in news about the anime/manga industry. This article in particular is of some importance to us, because it tells us that even though there are legit sources like CR, people are still willing to illegally distribute content they can find on legit sites.

In other news mass murderers have been getting a free pass in Japan while this happens.
XD

Seems like these people never heard of proxies.

that sounds really scary. dont. mess. with. them.

I appreciate stories like these, piracy is (among other, possibly positive effects, yes) a slap in the face for legal distributors, artists, musicians and, of course, legit consumers, so it's always nice to have a story of pirates being caught to go with my breakfast, even if it's the xth time that week.

Nonetheless, I can only hope that the punishment for the individuals in question is not too severe - as it is, the severity of piracy is underestimated by the majority of those who participate in it. Would be tough having someone's life ruined over such a thing.

it good that they stop a few pirates but more will just take there place it a problem that done not go away easy for ever 1 that get stopped 3 more will take there place. and the last few mouths there has been more pirates being arrested those that can be found that is it may be from the new SOPA Bill the US is trying to pass and other Nations are plan to do the same thing it will make big problems for ever one online.

Read this. " This is important -- Congress is considering two bills ("Protect IP" and "SOPA") that would let the government or any corporation censor the internet, using the same DNS-blocking techniques as Iran or China.

More here: http://americancensorship.org/

The bills are ostensibly to stop copyright and trademark infringement, but they won't. Instead-- they'll let the government shut down almost any social media website, since any site can be shut down just for audio, video, text, or even *links* posted by its users. Any corporations will have the power to bankrupt any website or organization by cutting it off from payments, advertising and donations-- without so much as a court order.

The law is being pushed by some of the strongest lobbies in Washington, it has broad bipartisan support, and it's likely to pass in some form. I've been active against it: next week I'll be participating in a nationwide call-in day. Can you join me, and help me spread the word by forwarding this. "

see thats what i was feeling they are really cracking down on this .
The past arrest was a warning.
There is got to be a politician who is pressuring the police in all 47 prefecture to produce results regarding this matter.
And why wont CR publish this as a news,It is quiet relevant to this business and its partners.
IT seems there was an ammendment of the copyright law in Japan in 2009 that took effect in Jan 2010 but they were stiil working on enforcement. Well I guess they found a way.Which is why we are seeing more arrest .It looks like it is a civil law.
But in the US ,. it is becoming a felony.

@jynxis: I don't see how these threads tell you that " even though there are legit sources like CR, people are still willing to illegally distribute content they can find on legit sites." At least a couple of the shows listed above are not available on legit sites here in the US. And even the ones that are available on legit sites here may not be available in other parts of the world. As has been stated by others here, the laws and regulations of the industry are still stuck in the 70's, and as a result a lot of shows still are not being made available to all fans all around the world, thus creating a market for piracy to exist.

If Japan realy want them to stop uploading illegal anime they need to get everything licensed everywhere.I will gladly pay for them.

I kinda hope this is the last time they crack down for the time being, or at least slowly transition out of it. The uploaders are problems, and it is not easy to assume they're doing it with any degree of respect or honor. But any publicity or overly severe punishment to make an example out of these uploaders as is intended may do more damage to their lives than the damage they've caused.

Arresting 30 people is a lot, a huge amount. I trust their main goal has been to raise fear, and indeed this should do that. But if they twist this into an objective of casually arresting every wrongdoing, they start to become the bad guys instead. This whole situation is like your average medicine: it treats the symptoms, not the cause. The uploading they're doing is a crime, and this should better clarify what it means to do a crime. But this does not terminate 'why' people are uploading (don't use overseas as the first excuse, these people are making it illegally available to all of Japan as their first objective, where it is already very available).

For one, to eliminate the overseas excuse, I think they need to work from within to get materials out more. Recent DVD releases that have english from the start is a perfect step in this direction, but I'm sure not everyone is interested in pursuing that yet. TV itself is also probably a little archaic to plenty computer users, so there also needs to be an increase in embracing digital distribution. Those are some first steps before it is okay to arrest 'everyone', as that should have some reduction on the numbers and better eliminate valid excuses.

... am i the only one thinking now prison wont be that bad a place?

I pay for crunchyroll but its not enough because of region restriction & a lot of anime i enjoy isnt hosted here either. all of the other sites have region restriction to so i have to download some anime illegally to see it.

Crunchyroll is nice, because it allows access to lots of different anime in one place, but often, it can be missing just one thing, and the only place to get access to that thing is through a place that allows you illegal access to it. Retailers need to step their game up since their customers are spread so widely across the globe now.

Anime wouldn't be anywhere near as popular if it wasn't for the pirated shows. I'm not condoning internet piracy, but when it comes to anime (especially in the U.K) the only way to really view anime is through illegal uploads and fansubs. Maybe if there were more licensing deals made overseas and less extortionate prices on DVDs this would be less of an issue.

Well i wouldnt be surprised if a hacker who is an anime fan somewhere in Russia , hacks into Japan TV, copy the shows and upload them. Well That would be funny but not really.I believe there is no copyright laws in Russia.This is just hypothetical idea.I'm just saying what if.

well it's getting harder to get raws i see .... either people better start importing the blurays and ripping them to make fansubs or it will die.

I find it interesting that the uploaders are the ones getting punished while the downloaders seem to be getting off the hook.

I guess there is no joke about uploading videos without permission. XD

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
REAL criminals are on the streets.

Business is serious...business. ^_^
Uploading something you didn't create is the same as stealing and then giving that stolen item away.
Thus, they stole a million (or more) USD worth of property, in most cases.

The annoyance of these articles are sort of condescending. It's sending a message that good thing you're paying us at Crunchy Roll, because otherwise you unwashed sheeple would all be looking at jail soon. Makes me almost ponder unsubscribing from CR...almost...but not quite. I'm buying convenience to watch things here and not wait on the dubious quality and download time of torrents.

I dont know you guys, but in mexico there is not much anime i only can watch fansub, and more, can not even watch all the animes on crunchy, so yeah, sorry, but i need the fansubs, so sorry, but these articles are shit, i know you dont care about another countries, and what people dont understand, people like crunchy and another services like this, is that without fansubs, anime would not be so popular rigth now, maybe we would watch some nice anime on the tv, but not all of the material that japan has to show. Im glad to buy something oficial when it comes out, but i cant do it if somebody has not released legally yet, so screw this fucking article

Really japan?

Y

Really japan?

You have all the Yakusa problem, the perverts in the trains, all that suicide rate, all that social insecurity, adn you spend your money following these guys?

WTF FUCK JAPAN??!

"Uploading something you didn't create is the same as stealing and then giving that stolen item away.
Thus, they stole a million (or more) USD worth of property, in most cases."

Man I am getting so sick of stupid comments like this. What nonsense! NO it is NOT the same as stealing! OK let me break it down for those of you out there who are still misled. The people in these articles who are getting busted are not being prosecuted for "stealing", they are being charged with illegally uploading (illegal distribution). The two are very different. Art is an intangible object, not a tangible commodity, so it's really very hard to steal.

Let me further clarify for those who don't understand. The only ways you can really "steal" anime are if you take away the master copy from the studio, or if you get a hold of a copy (digital or otherwise) and repackage it and claim that you made it yourself. Both of which are nearly impossible to do. They can't prosecute for stealing by claiming lost revenue because in order to do so they would have to PROVE that by distributing said media illegally the recipients of said media decided they were not going to purchase it after all....something that is humanly impossible to do in a court of law.

As has been pointed out before by others on these forums, if a person who downloads or views illegal streams of anime never had any intention of buying it in the first place or is unable to due to license restrictions or unavailability, then there is no loss of potential revenue to the creators. And the fact that viewing of illegally distributed shows has resulted in the legitimate purchase of same by so many peeps has been claimed by so many over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again disproves the loss of revenue claim beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Seriously, all this nonsense about the perils of piracy in the industry can all be summed up as the fact that there are people out there who can't or simply won't support the industry (either they can't afford to or are just too cheap) and somewhere out there are some studio executives who know that there are people out in the world enjoying their product and that aren't paying for it and they don't like it, and said executives are trying to convince others that it's because of these "leechers" that the industry is in trouble, and it's not because of bad management or bad decisions or bad negotiations or any of a number of other variables in business.

Seriously this shit needs to stop already.

Lmao wow. No comment xD

"30 people on suspicion of using file-sharing software"
file sharing software is not illegal. the author of this article is not qualified to write this article.

scary part is, i think i watched most (if not all) of those..... PLEASE DON'T ARREST ME!!!! ε=ε=ε=┌(;*´Д`)ﾉ

It all comes down to the problem of owning the anime. Yes I like to watch the shows streaming as they come out. But it sucks we have to wait years for a box-set to be released in the States. Just but some subs on it with the Japanese release and offer it over here. I dont care about your extra features and commentary. Just give me the anime!

Sad news for the anime-lovers-community.

Same thing happening in Canada, Harper made a Bill in September to arrest and fine people who not only upload but also DOWNLOAD.